Largemouth Bass

In an effort to help each other get on the fish, we will be adding a series of posts entitled by the type of fishing we are targeting and would like all users who wish to include their "favorite way to catch these fish", "favorite spots" (doesn't have to be exact), "favorite guides for these fish", "tackle tips", "recommended tackle", "beginner tips", "boating techniques" or any other information you feel would be helpful to other anglers targeting this type of fish.

The only place i can go fishing for largemouth around here is at Quail Creek Reservoire. I found that if you take and get some big crawfish from along the shore and use them as bait then you will catch quite a few fish.

Fishing rule #1: The least experienced fisherman always catches the biggest fish. Fishing rule #2: The worse your line is tangled, the better is the fishing around you. Fishing rule #3: Fishing will do a lot for a man but it won't make him truthful.

the largemouth bass lives in shallow water habitats, among reeds, waterlilies and other vegetation. It shares these habitats with muskies, northern pike, yellow perch and bullheads.

Largemouth bass are best adapted to warm waters of 80-82 degree F, and are seldom found deeper than 20 feet. They prefer clear waters with no noticeable current and do not tolerate excessive turbidity and siltation except during the spring spawning run of other fish , gobbling up there eggs in the spillways like candy . In winter they dwell on or near the lake bottom, but stay fairly active throughout the season.

Like the smallmouth bass, they spawn in late spring or early summer. The male constructs a nest on rocky or gravelly bottoms, although occasionally the eggs are deposited on leaves and rootlets of submerged vegetation. The eggs, which are smaller than those of the smallmouth bass, hatch in three to four days. The fry rise up out of the nest in five to eight days and form a tight school. This school feeds over the nest and later the nursery area while the male stands guard. The school breaks up about a month after hatching when the fry are about one inch long.

Largemouth bass eat minnows and practically any other available fish species including their own. Young largemouth fall prey to yellow perch, walleyes, northern pike, and muskies.

Both largemouth and smallmouth bass are parasitized by the bass tapeworm, black spot and yellow grub. None are harmful to humans in cooked fish.

FISHING TIPS ;

i like fishing for them in the spillways during spring , casting rubber worms and retriving them against the curent . or drifting a red and white grub about a foot below the surface with a bobber .

during the summer , i slow troll for them along the weedlines with a crawler harness with a medium size blade on it .

on small ponds and lakes , a bobber and a crawler just above the drop offs between 6 and 7 p.m. , gets em' every time .

PHOTO TIPS ;

holding a bass by laying its belly on your flat palm will incompasitate it for a picture . never hold them by the bottom jaw or the gills .

Largemouth bass: Look for early-season bigmouths in reasonably shallow water (less than 6 feet) and near emerging weeds. After the spawn, they start prowling near weedbeds for food, and aquatic vegetation provides sufficient cover for an effective ambush.

A favorite lure during the early season is a white spinnerbait. This lure often is called a "buzzbait" because of how it buzzes when retrieved.

Cast them near weedbeds or emerging weeds, and pay attention to small open pockets or indentations along the edges. These lures are not completely weedless but seldom hang up. Start the retrieve as the lure hits the water, and reel fast enough to "buzz" it across or just below the surface. The trick is to barely tick the weeds, and the strikes are hard.

Another early trick is to fish pockets of cattails when the bass are in the shallows. A Johnson Silver Minnow with a pork-rind frog can be cast into the heavy cover and twitched around and over the cattails. Hold the rod tip high, and flutter the rig through the tall weeds. It pays off with big fish.

Summer bassin' is a favorite time because anglers can fish shallow or deep. Fish shallow in the early morning, late evening or after dark, and fish deeper water during midday. Once the sun goes down is a time for exciting fishing.

Use a Hula Popper or Jitterbug (black or yellow are great colors), and fish them in stops and starts. Use rod-tip action to make a Hula Popper chug and pop on the surface. A Jitterbug can be retrieved steadily or with occasional pauses. Let these lures lie still on the surface for 15 seconds before retrieving them.

A Carolina- or Texas-rigged plastic worm inched slowly across bottom is productive in hot weather. If a strike is felt, give the fish a moment to ball the worm in its mouth before setting the hook. Black or brown worms work well, but multicolored plastic worms also produce. Experiment with colors.

Yup trophies,I would like to see big bass from my area everglades, or lakes around miami.I almost got a 10lber its hard around here,damn man, I'm struggling here.got my second best today,6,3/4 pics soon ,my bud,with 3rd or 4rth 7lb bass,my best on flyrod 4.2ounce,he got 2, 8lbers down here in his canal,"Alfreds canal",I got the fish of the lifetime with my 9.9,biggest Alfred has ever seen. Fish of a lifetime was caught trolling with a yellow fw.bommber with 3 trebbles,like 6" in lenght,I was holding the rod.fairly large lure.We also use luck e strike finnes worms,run them on the surface then let them sink.Alfred has caught most of his like that,also a popper at night got him a big bass, also an 8 pound mudfish,with popper,you could see Alfreds 2 stroke115yamaha in pic.Thats Shawn,a Guyanees chap.Damn,Alfred told me never to tell anyone how he works his worm.Try it in shallow water see how it works."no weight".Onlything,I won't say were his canal is... pic 297 is Alfred in his canal,he's a parapledgic but I would'nt call him handicapt.He is great at pool, squash,table tennis,darts you name it ,he's just great over all,I'm teaching him how to fish,he used to use mono in the glades.

A Bass a Day Keeps the Doctor Away.. Protect Florida's natural resources recycle and Fish for the Future!

i generally fish at clopper lake, MD. ive only caught 3 so far this year, and every time it has been on spinnerbait. i try to cast as far as i can, and i vary my reeling speed... basically slower, then faster, and keep the cycle going. as they say, fallen trees and beaver damns are good spots to be around.

I like to fish for bass at a place called Old River in Merriville, La. Its a very underfished river system. There are quite a few large bass in these waters. If anyone is looking for an off the beaten path place to find some big bass this is the place to be. www.fishthecountry.com

By day, Daphne, Alabama-based Hayes Anderson punches the clock as a railroad mechanic. But come evenings, weekends, and vacation days, Anderson’s hunting trophy fish — often driving all night to make the water at...
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